I came across this bestseller thriller by David Baldacci quite accidentally. David is a new writer (for me), my research shows that not only has he an official website: https://david-baldacci.com where he participates actively with the readers to answer their messages etc. but also that he has produced a string of best sellers in last 5 years, one of which has been made into a movie.
David, in his early 40’s has a good writing style, functional and interesting enough with good narrative sans the pomp., concentrating more on action and description rather than on introspection and philosophizing. This book, an action-suspense thriller is of Ludlum genre, and seeing the good job done by David, he can well occupy the niche vacated by Ludlum.
It is a taut story with a complex plot is full of non-stop action, and a pace that leaves you breathless.
Lee Sawyer, an accomplished FBI agent is investigating a mysterious case of a plane that fell down from the sky has reasons to believe the crash to be an act of sabotage.
Sidney Archer, a young attorney with a lovely 2-year-old daughter, and a loving husband Jason, a software geek successfully employed in an IT- giant has a life that one could ask for. One fine day the whole thing comes crashing down with sudden demise of her husband in the plane crash that Lee is investigating. Lee meets her and is sympathetic to her tragic fate.
The investigations point to a deadly plot to eliminate an important passenger on the flight, and Jason who never took the flight is alive, but in hiding. Jason is declared a fugitive and the investigators as well as conspirators are hounding Sidney who has accessed some data in Jason’s computer. Sidney is on the run and in process has been declared as an accessory.
The story narrates the determined investigations by Lee, and the dogged fight by Sidney to unravel the conspiracy and exonerate her husband. In the process, David also unfolds the enormous power and reach of the information technology and computers that are and can transform the future drastically…for good as well as the bad. Though David has made Sidney the central character, to me Lee Sawyer appealed more as the central character.
After graduating from the old masters of yesteryears like; Maclean, Wallace, Hailey, Lecarre, Forsyth etc. I had come to depend on the ruling trio of Clancy, Crchton and Grisham. Now I have added a new writer David Baldacci to my list and he seems to be a promising writer who will go places in coming years.